“How to dispose of a lawn mower?” is a question you might be asking if you no longer have any need for it. You cannot just have an expensive piece of equipment lying around the house without any use.
We have penned down several creative yet pragmatic ways by which you can dispose of your machine in a lawful and environmentally friendly manner. Find out what those methods are in this short guide.
How To Properly Dispose of Your Lawn Mower?
You can properly dispose of your lawn mower by selling it or giving it for free if it is still in working condition. You can recycle it, sell its disassembled parts as scrap metal or dump it in the garbage if it no longer works.
Make sure to read up on local laws regarding waste management before carrying out any form of disposal. Read about a few old-lawn-mower-disposal solutions that you could try below.
1. Sell Your Old Lawn Mower
This is the easiest option you have if your mower still works. Just put it up for sale and have the potential buyer take it away. There is social media and tons of online selling and buying websites for this kind of thing. You only have to make an account on one of these and put up a photo of your mower.
You can also spread the word around through friends, family, and neighbors so that anyone needing it can directly approach you. Go online and see what price others are charging for similar products.
How quickly and at what price you manage to sell your machine depends on your sales skills. Make sure to upload an attractive photo and write an eye-catching description for the product. Fair warning: you will get a lot of calls from potential buyers asking you to lower the price. So be ready to hold your ground and sell at your best price.
2. Recycle It
Recycling is a suitable way of ridding yourself of a mower that no longer works. Look for a recycling center close to you and check them online. See if they recycle electronic products. You can also call them to get all the required information.
All oil and gas from containers should be removed first for gas-powered mowers. Clean the fuel and gas tanks thoroughly. As for the oil you drain from the mower and any other stores you might have at home, ask any auto retailer if they accept it.
Many metal recyclers demand that you remove the plastic components of your mower before sending it over to them. Always make sure what their special requirements are beforehand.
If you don’t have the proper tools, then take help from a nearby hardware shop or car repair center. You can then drop off the metallic portion of your mower over to the center yourself or hire someone who could do it for you.
Lastly, as a responsible citizen, you need to make sure to choose your recycler responsibly. Take care that they don’t operate near landfills where they might be responsible for contaminating water bodies and soil. They better be following the community guidelines for household hazardous waste set down by the government.
3. Disassemble and Sell It as Scrap Metal
We suggest you disassemble your mower yourself and sell its metal parts. This way, you will get paid more as compared to selling the whole thing as it is. Naturally, recyclers will pay you for the effort of removing the metal from the machine. If the metal in question is aluminum, you will get more money.
The type of metal components your mower comprises will determine how much you get paid for them. Scrap metal dealers will pay more for parts that are made of iron and are magnetic. Use a magnet to determine if the metal is iron or aluminum.
It takes time, but you should disassemble the machine yourself. Take help from online videos if you don’t know how to. Then organize all the parts by their type. Sell each metal scrap, electronic component, and plastic part separately. You will get paid much more in comparison to if you had sold the intact mower as one unit.
4. Donate It to Someone
This is undoubtedly a most charitable method of disposing of a mower still in good shape. Who doesn’t like free stuff? A person or two within your contacts would appreciate being gifted a second-hand mower that still works.
There are also charity shops and organizations that accept all sorts of household items. They then sell or scrap it and donate the money to the needy. Look for the nearest one and then drop your mower there.
Before donating, clean it up and make it look presentable. Drain the old fuel from it. Otherwise, restarting the engine again becomes a hassle. Any other item that came with the mower at the purchase time should also be donated.
We endorse that you donate a mower that still works instead of scrapping it, especially if you aren’t really in need of the money. It is a far more environmentally friendly option than scrapping and recycling.
5. Call a Junk Removal Service
If you are sick of your mower, the bad part is that you can’t just throw it into the bin. As per the laws of electronic solid waste management, you cannot throw anything electronic into the bin. You can call a local junk removal service to take the old device if you can’t take it there yourself.
A fuel-powered mower can’t be thrown into the junk, either, so you’ll need to call the junk removal service just the same. Just ensure that its gas and fuel tanks have been completely emptied so that it poses no health or environmental risk.
Contact your local waste management company before throwing the machine. Some companies refuse to deal with such waste and ask you to deliver it yourself to their junkyard. Others charge extra fees for handling things like this.
We, of course, would never suggest you randomly throw your mower anywhere. You better read your local laws regarding appropriate junk removal and waste management. This will give you a clearer idea of how best your lawn mower disposal can be.
6. Be Wary of Environmental Pollution
This is the most important aspect of disposing of a mower. As mentioned above, remove the oil and gas from their tanks before donating, selling, or throwing away the machine.
Otherwise, they will leak into the junkyard, seep through the soil, and contaminate not only the soil but also the water supply. Most local laws impose severe penalties for these mistakes. You will end up being fined much more than what the mower was worth.
As for electronic mowers, these can also be an environmental hazard. Remove all the batteries and other electronic parts before sending the machine off to the junkyard.
Frequently Asked Questions
– How Do You Get Gas Out of a Lawn Mower Before Getting Rid of It?
You get gas out of a lawn mower before getting rid of it by placing a hose in the gas tank and putting the other end of the hose in a collecting container, and then letting gravity do the rest of the work.
The hose should be lower than the level of the gasoline within the tank in order for this to work. The fuel will begin to flow from the tank into the container under the effect of gravity. Just remember to first remove any grass cuttings from the inside of the machine before getting gas out. You can remove grass from a mower by utilizing gravity.
Another method is to disconnect the line that connects the fuel tank to the carburetor. Use a gas container to collect the leaking gasoline from the tank and the carburetor afterward.
– Is It Worth Repairing a Lawn Mower That’s Old?
Yes, it is worth repairing a lawn mower that’s old if it can be easily repaired at a low enough cost. If your mower is old, battered, and has several problems, it will take a lot of time and effort to repair it.
Keep in mind that many repair shops nowadays don’t even deal with the old designs of mowers anymore. There aren’t even the right parts available for them anywhere. Instead of spending so much on wasted effort, go for a new mower. However, if your mower is relatively new and needs only minor fixing, then, by all means, go ahead and have it repaired.
– What Is the Average Lifespan of a Riding Lawn Mower?
The average lifespan of a riding lawn mower, if it’s a well-maintained and properly used model, is around 10 to 15 years or 1,000 to 1,500 hours of working time. It also depends on whether you had invested in a high-quality mower in the first place or not.
Regular servicing, using premium-quality gasoline, and proper use will no doubt extend the lifespan of any mower beyond that specified by the manufacturer and prevent having to dispose of it anytime soon.
Conclusion
Today you learned the best disposal options when it comes to getting rid of a mower that you no longer need.
Here is a brief recap of all those ways:
- An old mower still in good shape can be easily sold off at a reasonable price.
- See if any company nearby recycles old mowers. Alternatively, you can either sell the whole thing to a scraps dealer or sell scraps that you have removed.
- Ask around in your circle and see if anyone needs a lawn mower. Just have them pick it up from your house.
- Recycling is a suitable way of ridding yourself of a mower that no longer works.
Now that all the various methods of getting rid of a mower are at your disposal, you have to decide which method you think is for you.
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